When it comes to advertising, music plays a vital role in bringing the visuals to life. Therefore it is imperative to find the perfect music to carry out your vision. Having said that, the topic of the budget for your advert and in particular, the music budget for your advert, is a topic that needs to be well evaluated and assessed in order to ascertain what music you can use, and at the what price.
Finding the right piece of music at the right price can be a challenging task, especially when hindered by budget constraints. It is important to remember that there are four main music categories to take into consideration that affect your music budget differently. These four categories, in order from most expensive to most cost effective are as follows: international commercial music, local commercial music, commissioned music, and production library music.
There are two broad areas in advertising that help you ascertain which of the above four music categories you will be able to acquire. The first are creative driven advertising campaigns whereby budget is less of a factor. Popular commercial songs come into contention in order to wow clients by making a bold statement, which is usually an approach undertaken by big brands. The second are budget driven campaigns where the cost surrounding the advert as a whole, is everything. The message being conveyed within these particular ads is more important than the ‘wow’ factor and therefore budget driven campaigns will lean more towards commissioned music/production library music centric in order to remain within the budget constraints.
International commercial music comes with a hefty licensing fee for two main reasons. Firstly, the popularity of the song in question sets a precedent for the price and secondly, the originating territory of the song. License fees applicable are often charged in USD and regularly exceed amounts of $50 000 depending on which rights you seek to attain (TV, radio, cinema, internet/online). These licensing fees become particularly daunting as we as South Africans currently face very tough economic condition, rendering this option unattainable in instances when your advert has budget constraints. Local commercial music is much the same as Internationally composed music, however, with the exception that the fees applicable are charged in Rands. Commissioned music, which is music specifically composed according to a brief, can also come in at a hefty fee, should you wish to acquire a high calibre composer to create a piece of music for your advert.
The great news is that production library music comes in as a very cost effective alternative for adverts on a tight budget. Further to production music being cost effective, it requires no clearance, therefore when working on time-constrained projects; production music can be supplied in a hassle free nature with very quick turnaround times. The outdated notion that production music is low quality music has become somewhat a fallacy in recent years.
“Today, top commercial composers and film scorers are creating music libraries of their own. Recording with full orchestras and live instruments, often creating cinematic quality content,” says Skumba Music Director, Mandrew Mnguni. The Skumba Music Library offer top compositions by renowned composers such as two-time Grammy nominated Cedric Samson, the Emmy award nominated Philip Miller, who has also worked on the Canadian Screen Award winning series Book of Negroes and Wawela Award Winning Brendan Jury who has worked with the likes of The Parlotones, Vusi Mahlasela, Miriam Makeba and Johnny Clegg.
The team at Skumba Music is dedicated to finding the balance between the perfect compositions for your advert at a price that fits within your budget. So whether you require music for a TV commercial, radio spot or an advert for cinema, Skumba Music has an all-encompassing production music library backed by a musically creative team, ready to facilitate music searches according to your specific needs, to satisfy your adverts every musical demand. The broadcast mechanical rates associated with production music are fees payable for the usage of the piece of music you wish to acquire and are subject to the CAPASSO rate card. The fees applicable vary in accordance with the following parameters on the rate card: Broadcast Medium (TV, radio, cinema, public location, internet etc.), Territory (In which country/countries will your advert flight?) and duration (how many seconds or minutes of music will be used?). It is handy to have all of this information available to you when looking to acquire a rate for your required piece of production music. The CAPASSO rate card is attainable on their website (www.capasso.co.za), alternatively, contact the team at Sheer Publishing/Skumba Music (www.skumbamusic.co.za/library2@sheer.co.za) to assist in obtaining the applicable rates, whilst supplying you with the perfect piece of music to bring your advert to life!
By Brett Vorster
